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Why do we cry tears?

We cry tears to protect our eyes, clean them, and sometimes to show our feelings.

There are tiny glands above our eyes called tear glands. These glands always make a small amount of tears. This tear keeps our eyes wet, and protects them from dust and germs.

Sometimes a bit of dust gets in our eye, or a strong smell comes from cutting an onion. Then the tear glands quickly make more tears. These tears try to wash away and clean the harmful thing in our eye.

There are also tears we cry when we feel sad, very happy, or angry. These are called emotional tears. Scientists think these tears help lower stress in our body.

So tears are a special liquid that both protect our eyes and show our feelings.

Quick facts

There is a small gland above our eye that makes tears.
Tears keep our eye wet and protect it from dust.
The gas that comes out when cutting an onion stings our eye, so we cry.
Tears have special things in them that kill germs.
We cry emotional tears when we feel very sad or very happy.
Blinking helps spread tears over the whole eye.

Check what you remember

3 questions — all of them come from the quick facts above. There is no score and no wrong turn.

1. Where is the gland that makes tears?

2. Why do we cry when cutting an onion?

3. What is found inside tears?

Where this comes from

1 tr.wikipedia.org 80/100
Gözyaşı - Vikipedi
A general encyclopedia page that explains what tears are and what they do.
2 britannica.com 75/100
Tear (anatomy) - Britannica
A reliable encyclopedia page that explains how the tear gland works.
3 tr.wikipedia.org 65/100
Göz - Vikipedi
Shows the parts of the eye and where the tear gland sits in the eye.

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The Tear Gland

There is a small gland above the eye. This gland makes a little bit of tears every day. This keeps our eye wet all the time.

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Why Does Onion Make Us Cry?

When you cut an onion, a tiny gas mixes into the air. This gas stings when it touches our eye. Our eye makes tears to wash this gas away.

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Emotional Tears

We also cry when we feel very sad or very happy. These tears have nothing to do with cleaning the eye. Scientists think they help lower stress inside us.

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What Tears Do

Tears are not just water — they also have things in them that kill germs. This is why tears protect our eyes from getting sick. When we blink, tears spread over the whole eye.

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